But if the Jew should object to these things, our discussion with him will no longer be equally difficult, for the truth can be made manifest from the teachings familiar to him. That there is a Word of God and a Spirit of God—powers subsisting essentially, both creative of what has come to be and encompassing the things that exist—is shown most clearly from the divinely inspired Scriptures. It is enough to recall one testimony and leave the discovery of more to those who wish to pursue them: 'By the Word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the Spirit of His mouth all their power.' What Word and what Spirit? For the Word is not a mere utterance, nor is the Spirit a mere breath. Otherwise the divine would be reduced to the likeness of our human nature if they taught that the Maker of the whole used a word and spirit of this kind. And what power arising from utterances and breath could possibly suffice for the establishment of the heavens and the powers within them?
For if the Word of God were like our utterance, and the Spirit like our breath, then like things would necessarily have like power, and the Word of God would possess only as much strength as our own word. But our utterances, and the breath that accompanies them, are without effective power and without subsistence. Those who reduce the divine to the likeness of our word would therefore make the divine Word and Spirit likewise ineffective and without subsistence. But if, as David says, the heavens were established by the Word of the Lord and their powers received their constitution in the Spirit of God, then the mystery of the truth has been established, teaching us to speak of the Word as being in essence and the Spirit as being in hypostasis.